Event Flag XX
by MeowzieChan
Summary: "Your smile is the proof of your health." The boy is young and impressionable and latches onto that memory for a guideline of what is right, what the goal is, what the endgame should be. Two player characters who don't know they aren't one latch onto a memory and center the focus just a little differently. -the events of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid from the other side of the main character


(Beginning Notes:

Emu was infected for ten years, and Parad existed separately for the next six. There is so much potential to be explored for the other side of the Genius Gamer.

So that's what I did.

Event flag; (n); An in-game condition that, if met by the player's earlier actions, alters the story progression in some way. (as per TV Tropes.)

Quotes used are via the Excite Subs translation.

The wording is intentionally ambiguous at times, because the differences between Emu and Parad are often ambiguous to start with.)

 **[game start]**

A boy spends his time alone in his room, his parents busy with work.

He is 8, and soft spoken, and clumsy on his feet, and so, so clever. He occupies himself with playing games and dreaming up more. He dreams up a two player game – maybe he could make friends.

He sends an idea for a game to his idol. A letter comes back with a disc and a demo.

A letter is sent with a smile that hides an ego that hides a secret and an agenda.

 **[set event flag 01]**

Time passes. He gets headaches. His parents say that his thoughts are growing too big for his brain to keep up. They're joking – he's just growing, that's all – and he's so, so clever.

They're joking but they're not wrong.

Time passes. It's raining.

The driver doesn't see him at first because he's small.

He doesn't see the car coming because his head hurts.

 **[set event flag 02]**

It hurts. Everything hurts and then it doesn't. And then he is alone in a room that's not his, his parents still busy with work.

"Your smile is the proof of your health."

The boy is young and impressionable and latches onto that memory for a guideline of what is right, what his goal is, what his endgame should be.

Two player characters who don't know they aren't one latch onto a memory and center the focus just a little differently.

 **[set event flag 03]**

Time passes. A teen is polite in public and in person, and is rougher when he games. And that's normal, isn't it? Everyone's a little different in different situations, right?

Two player characters who don't know they aren't one respond to the same inputs at the same time.

Time passes. The teen enters tournaments. Gaming isn't a sport, it's a hobby. The prizes aren't enormous, gaming isn't a sport. But he can save for later, for school, to be a doctor – to be someone's hero like the one when he was young. He can do this. He's so, so clever, after all.

Time passes. Gaming becomes a spectator sport. A young man is rougher when he games, and games are becoming more public with more people, so he loses some of his softness. It's the same situation in a different place, isn't it?

He is 18, and well spoken, and clumsy on his feet, and so, so, clever – more than enough to joke about it whenever he trips going on or off stage.

Time passes. The young man is known and popular – he plays games and people like him for it. And wasn't that how this all began?

They call him the Genius Gamer M – and that's just more proof that this is what's right for him. He's already started on this path, so he might as well stick with it. He's good at this – why not keep going?

Two player characters who don't know they aren't one see themselves on the same screen.

Gaming is a spectacle and fun and to the winner go the spoils. The loser gets the ending they deserve.

He gets headaches. It's probably the lighting and the lack of sleep – your smile is the proof of your health, and he's constantly smiling.

Time passes. He keeps winning – yoursmileistheproofofyourhealth – and keeps playing.

The crowd doesn't see him really falling at first because he's clumsy.

He doesn't see the ground coming because he was out before he fell.

 **[set event flag 04]**

It hurts. Everything hurts and then it hurts _more_ and what are they _doing_ they're doing it wrong stop that _what are you doing_ no don't do that _just go away_ no STOP IT!

And he is forming out of a cloud and standing over himself as he lies on a table and the four people who were _making it worse_ are writhing and disappearing and what is going on?

Two player characters.

One wakes in a normal hospital room and is told he passed out from exhaustion, and he takes that as a sign that he should focus on his studies. (Your smile is the proof of your health.)

One wakes in a terrifying operating room with a different face than he's used to, and the one he knows is in front of him, and he takes that as a sign that he's a monster. (The loser gets the ending they deserve.)

 **[set event flag 05]**

He is found and hidden by a man he recognizes from magazines and websites, and is told he is a game character, and that can't be right. He's Emu Hojo, he's the Genius Gamer M, isn't he? But the young man with the face he thought was his was brought to a hospital and left it, and he's still here, trying to find an identity that's HIS, now that he's not part of himself.

And he lets himself be poked and prodded and works with the man who started this because what else can he do? (thelosergetstheendingtheydeserve) And he doesn't quite think that he's a game character, because his memories are all of being a small boy who grew into a young man and then of NOT being him anymore. And he doesn't look like any of the characters from the games, and he _knows_ that because he's played them all but he's not _human_. He can step into one computer and out of one in another building, can disappear into a pixelated blur and reform somewhere else, and those weren't things Emu Hojo could do, so he must not be him.

He is made of code and memories and is confused and angry. Confused because he doesn't know who he is and angry for the same reason. He's upset about not being himself – but if he was never himself than who was he? Emu was so, so clever, and so is he, and he knows that something that exists without beginning is a paradox. So that's the name he takes for himself.

He calls himself Parad, and later takes the handle Para-DX, and has to have the games that are his weapons made after the fact because he _wasn't from a game to begin wit_ _h_. He uses a puzzle game, because he is still so, so clever, even if he's not M anymore, and a fighting game, because he is so, so angry because he might not have been M in the first place.

(A student plays Persona and wonders why he ever avoided it.)

(A monster plays Persona and realizes why it set him on edge.)

His game – the one he could have been from but wasn't – was an idea scrawled by a child who was inspired and sent to an idol who was awful and it was _use_ _d_. It was _used_ and _twisted_ and so was he.

And is it any wonder that just six years of being someone else after so many of being one person would tear someone apart?

And isn't it even harder when the one you used to be doesn't really know anythings changed, doesn't know that you were part of him and now you're not?

Six years of looking back at what are now someone else's memories, and looking at what he is now and how humans have used the digital beings that are "like-him-but-not-quite" as a virtual punching bag.

Time passes and he gives mocking grins, and conspires with and against the man who created him. (Your smile is the proof of your health, but what if it's fake and so are you?)

He starts to think that if all the world's a game, then all the people should be players.

(The loser gets the ending they deserve, and if they fail then they didn't try hard enough.)

Time passes. Plans advance and unfold. He gives the other one a blank cartridge, and doesn't tell him or the man it came from or _himself_ what he's hoping will happen.

 **[set event flag 06]**

The madman who he is using and who is using him expects Emu to die then and there, and Emu expects a power-up, and Parad doesn't know what to expect or to hope for but something _will_ happen.

Emu doesn't lose – he creates something 16 years old and brand new and _it's_ _real_.

The game he made – their game – _his_ game – and the first fight is confusing, because Parad hasn't been Emu for 6 years now but has been fighting against-and-with him since he put on a driver, and now he's both Parad and Emu in one and it's just Emu in the other, but that's okay, because he gets to beat up Genm, and even knowing that he won't stay down it feels _so_ _good_ to get to punch the man whose fault this all is.

Of _course_ that was the data that Genm needed for the next gashat – a two player game for a two-game cartridge. So now Parad has three transformations, technically – and he can be two of them at once!

It's multitasking, and a little tricky, but going from 'playing and studying' when they were in school to 'gaming and showboating' when they were in tournaments to 'gaming and plotting' once _they_ became _he_ to fighting as two people and being both him and them at once – well, multitasking like that is just another puzzle, isn't it?

The line between Emu and M and Parad confuses itself in his mind again because of this, just a little, and Hojo Emu still doesn't know that Parad is both here-and-there, but it'll work out. He's fighting and playing against himself and yet with himself and identities are _complicated_ and he's so many things at once. He had been Emu for 10 years and time has passed since then so he's both 6 and 16, but also remembers being Emu before Parad existed in any form, so he was 18 when 'they' became a plural pronoun, so he's technically 24 as well, and oh look at that. Another puzzle to put together.

 **[set event flag 07]**

Time passes. Kuroto continues making Kamen Rider Chronicle. Parad refers to it as 'his' game. Kuroto does as well. Kuroto thinks of Parad belonging to the game. Parad thinks of the game belonging to him.

Time passes. Plans advance and unfold.

Genm destroys Burgmon.

Burgmon, who was new and _complete_ and had everything going for him and wanted the best for his creator and _did nothing wrong_.

Genm uses Motorz.

Motorz, who was from a racing game and _should have been_ a racer and has been changed into something vicious that he's not supposed to be and used as a trap.

If this is all part of a script, then the script is wrong.

Parad isn't a game character, but the other Bugsters are. The Bugsters are his kind, they are his friends and maybe they are the closest thing to family they all have. They were _designed_ by Kuroto, but they _live_ because of Parad – the first of them, the oldest, the proof of concept.

Kuroto Dan is using and discarding Parad's family.

Kuroto Dan has got to go.

The loser gets the ending they deserve.

 **[set event flag 08]**

what are you doing _you can't tell him_ he can't take this _i_ _won't stand for this_ he's still mine _you can't have him_ don't tell him _don't you dare_ _NO_

Two humans and a monster try to stop a madman from telling a dark secret.

They fail.

He can't let this end now, he still needs the other one to exist.

He can't be complete because he wants to see who was right.

 _Needs_ to see who is right.

He goes back.

(But years of bitterness and anger and literal separation make it different.

Emu is kinder and has been alone in his head now, and Parad has grown hard and become a monster.

The Genius Gamer M is even rougher than he was six years ago. Maybe it's something in his code that led to that in the first place. Parad keeps his emotions near the surface, and now they spill over into the single gamer even more than when Parad didn't know he existed.)

 **[set event flag 09]**

He got _power_ and he didn't even _use it to it's fullest_. How can he still call himself a gamer?

Six years and sixteen years come to a head and Parad finishes what Emu wouldn't start.

The Loser Gets The Ending They Deserve.

 **[set event flag 10]**

Kuroto Dan was a disc one boss. Parad is the final, has to be the final – and Chronicle will take place and he will make it happen. They will fight and either win or die, but this cycle will continue.

Well.

It'll continue for the Bugsters, anyway.

Ren takes Poppy back and Parad releases the others.

They had been made to be beaten and destroyed but now it's their turn. They're the players now.

The losers will get the ending they deserve.

Game Start.

 **[set event flag 11]**

why won't he fight _stop fighting them_ it's our turn now _pay attention to me_ you don't even remember _come back_ listen to me _it was what i was for_ you started this _player versus player_ so why not finish it _fight me already_ give her back _she was ours first_ so you'll play with her _why don't you recognize me_ FIGHT ME DAMNIT OR WHAT ELSE AM I FOR

He goes back to him over and over and tries to make him listen but his priorities are elsewhere.

How can't he remember? Parad was always there. THEY were always there. Why won't Emu see?

(So what if Parad didn't know he was there back then either? They are both so, so clever, he should see it now.)

And now.

Now they are both so angry at each other and at themselves. Because to be angry at one is to be angry at the other, because they are them.

Two player characters that used to be one.

(So what if the game was co-op? They don't _make_ those anymore.)

Player versus player versus environment.

Parad versus Emu versus world.

The loser gets the ending they deserve.

He almost won.

 **[set event flag 12]**

What. Is. He. Doing. Here.

What the actual hell.

Level Zero is. That is cheating. You do NOT interfere with another players abilities. You DON'T.

And WHY. You don't touch another players LEVEL. That's. How is he even DOING THAT.

Oh. It's a DEV KIT. In a game that's _finished_. Developers just HAVE to ruin everything.

Developers ruined him six years ago.

No, _no_ , this is HIM, this is how he IS, this is RIGHT.

(Don't focus on Emu and Kuroto working together. Don't focus on how much that HURT. Just focus on the game. Just focus on Chronicle.)

Just focus on winning.

(At least he'll get to take Kuroto out over and over.)

 **[set event flag 13]**

Final battle time.

They're the final bosses.

Emu can't win.

Parad can't lose.

And then.

Lovelica's girls are gone. Maximum and Level Zero are _cheap_ and they are both _cheating_ but it's still a good fight because although it's four on three, but they're all _skilled_.

And then it isn't.

It's four on three on _one._

we are not tools _we have names use them_ we are not yours _that's why we're doing this_ you can't use us again _what are you talking ab-_

 _-out_ what just happened _that hurt_ Lovelica NO.

It was three on three on one.

Now it's four on two on one.

… No. No it's not.

It's one on _all._

 **[set event flag 14]**

Lovelica is gone and isn't coming back. And Parad can't do anything about it.

He can't bring himself to even move.

He and Emu are still linked – even now, after six years apart – that's how he was able to keep him from disappearing, and how he – _they_ – made their game.

He can tell that Emu isn't okay with this either. But _he_ can still move and is still fighting, and Parad is stuck.

A doctor is 24, and clever, and has come up with a plan.

A bugster is 24 and 6 and 16, and terrified, and can not take this.

Because maybe Parad _is_ a monster, maybe they are all monsters and they know it, but.

They aren't _the_ monsters here.

A gamer-turned-doctor and a madman try to stop a monster and are betrayed by their ally.

A bugster can only watch.

 **[set event flag 15]**

Masamune Dan has got to go.

Kuroto is awful and used everyone around him.

But he was used and so was Emu and so was Parad.

Parad won't use the monster's name. He doesn't deserve it. Not when he treats everyone as products, refuses to use _their_ names. The monster calls them by the games they are from or that they use. Dangerous Zombie. Taddle Legacy. Toki Meki Crisis. Drago Knight Hunter Z. Maximum Mighty X. Perfect Knockout. _So._ He is Cronus, and nothing else.

Parad's not okay with them. With any of them. But he and Graphite cannot stop Cronus alone.

So. They go to gather some information directly from the source.

Good thing Bugsters can teleport, or they wouldn't have gotten into CR.

Plans are hatched on all sides. A pair of Bugsters put one into motion, and visit the game world of Chronicle.

Graphite uses himself as the host for the final boss. His logic makes sense – he's complete, and Parad isn't. Parad's been fighting for this the whole time, when Graphite wasn't able to.

He can't offer his help when Graphite infects himself. He knows that Graphite would never let him.

Graphite has always taken events into his own hands – he did earlier too, before he died the first time.

Parad wants to support his friend as the Gemdeus infection takes hold, as Graphite struggles and throws himself across the tunnel. But he can't, Graphite would never let him – he's too proud and stubborn and _noble_ , and Parad can't move.

What was the trope again? Noble Demon? After all… the character designed for Drago Knight Hunter Z was once a hero, but lost himself to power and became a villain.

They are data and characters and code and parasites, but they are _people_ , too, and maybe. Maybe Graphite's making up for the character he was created as.

Parad can't even say he's doing that much.

He tries to get Emu to work with them. They would be invincible if they were together again.

But he won't. He refuses.

Why won't he listen _this man is using all of us_ we could stop him _I want us back_ you'll work with them _why not me_ you'll trust them _why not me_ what's so different _I want to play again_ we have the same goal _we have to stop him_ Cronus has got to go _the loser gets the ending they deserve_ he has to go down.

 **[set event flag 16]**

Brave is coerced by Cronus and Lazer is brought back. They need to be stopped, too, but Emu _won't listen_.

They try to stop Cronus from using Pause.

Or, that's what Parad _thought_ they were doing.

But then Emu turns the Bugvisor on himself and Parad disappears for a little while, just long enough to let Emu have the 'power' of M again.

(Parad had gained a belt and Emu had lost the raw strength of the two of them as one, but everything else stayed the same, so no one had noticed. The lines of who was M at what times 6 years ago are blurred even further, because they are so similar, even now.)

Two player characters.

Both are so, so, clever, and are loyal to their friends, and are ruthless.

One is clumsy and trips over himself, unless he's in armor, and smiles when he's being kind but can turn on a dime and trick someone into doing what he needs them to do.

One teleports to travel more than a few yards, unless he's in armor, and smiles when he's having fun but can turn on a dime and demolish someone when they go against him.

Two player characters.

One story.

 **[set event flag 17]**

Graphite is in pain and Parad is tense and then _he_ shows up. Graphite could move, he restarted time, and was thrown across a valley for his effort.

It's not working. This isn't right. Why can't he. Why can't he fight? Why isn't he strong enough? What changed? He's stronger than this, isn't he? He's supposed to be. He always has been. Why can't he fight?

He is battered and thrown down over and over and he's not well. He's losing, and he can't – he can't breathe. It's choking him – Lovelica is gone and Graphite is killing himself to stop Cronus and nothing is _working_. It's all gone wrong and _he can't breathe_.

Cronus is just toying with him – doesn't even think he's worth using Pause, not worth the broken, over-powered technique that could _just finish the job already_.

Parad is saved by his first half and doesn't know if it was worth it.

Cronus has taken hostages before and is doing it again.

Brave was forced to choose between his lost lover and his ally – between Saki Momose and Taiga Hanaya. One would have to die for the other to live.

Ex-Aid is forced to choose between his power and his friend – between Parad and Nico Saiba.

They can't beat the game without beating him.

He's a Bugster, after all.

They had been made to be beaten and destroyed and they had their turn. But the controller's not in his hands anymore.

Two player characters.

One option.

 **[set event flag 18]**

Fine. He'll take down Cronus himself. He can't make Graphite do this. He can't _let_ Graphite do this. Not the doctors, or Kuroto, or anyone else. It has to be him – he's supposed to be the lead. Chronicle is _his_ game. Right? That's why he worked with Kuroto for six years, right? So that he could have the place he was meant to be, right?

Right?

Parad and Emu meet again.

Parad wears his emotions on the surface and tries to hide it.

Emu doesn't buy it, and he can tell.

One had been 8 years old and scared and didn't want to die.

One is 6 and 24 and feels the same but won't admit it even to himself.

They finally fight, they are settling it, but does he really want that? Is that what he wanted in the first place? He doesn't know. He can't remember – but fighting is how he has felt alive until now so _fine_ _then_.

But nothing works.

He can't dent him.

They were never like this when 'they' were 'him.' They were cocky and brash back then. But now? Emu has grown confident and calculating and cold. Parad can't keep up.

Fear is choking him and he can't move and it hurts and he can't breathe.

The loser gets the ending they deserve your smile is the proof of your health the loser gets the ending they deserve thelosergetstheendingtheydeservethe –

"Goodbye, Parad."

 _(THE LOSER GETS THE ENDING THEY DESERVE)_

 **[SET EVENT FLAG 19]**

 _Mighty Brothers!_

 _Double click and load!_

 _Click and Open!_

 _DOUBLE UP!_

He's back. How – why – Emu.

Parad doesn't want to hear this – can't hear this – it's not – Emu killed-him-but-didn't just to teach him a lesson?

Why would he do that? What does he want?

If he hadn't teleported, he would have been on the floor.

Poppy follows him to the garage.

Graphite still wants to fight – wants to destroy the humans.

Poppy wants them all to live, to play together.

Parad… Parad doesn't know what he wants anymore.

Everything has gotten confusing and difficult. He thought that fighting was his goal and life and then he _died-but-lived_ and he _doesn't know what he wants anymore_.

He collapses. He can't run from this, can't vanish into another part of the city, can't battle his way through or out.

Emu reaches out. They are them – they were them for ten years, even when neither knew they weren't one person. Emotions bounce between one to the other, and back again. It's a feedback loop with no real beginning or end – I am you and you are me and we are us.

Parad is sinking. Emu reaches out. Parad accepts.

Two player characters.

Finally, _finally_ playing as a team.

 **[set event flag 20]**

This is it. They're going to take Cronus down.

They're fighting as a team – it's two on one, and then _three_ on one! Mighty Brothers doesn't just divide Ex-Aid into Emu and Parad. It can divide Para-DX into Perfect Puzzle and Knock-Out Fighter, and once again Parad is multitasking in battle – but with himself and an ally. An ally that is his... brother? Brother. Let's call it brothers - that was what their first game called this, 16 years ago, so that's what they'll call it now.

And they _win_. Two finishers that connect, and the lag from Ex-Aid's Hyper Muteki and the combo attacks of Parad-DX's Perfect Knock-Out combine into one glorious cascade of hits.

The Master Gashat for Kamen Rider Chronicle shatters. That's it – it's over –

-But then it's not. The _Real_ Monster flares a sickly green and orange, and _something_ happens, and – the Hyper Muteki Gashat is gone.

It's a _rollback_.

 **[set event flag 21]**

Parad and Poppy try to convince Graphite to help. He refuses.

Emu and Kuroto try to recreate Hyper Muteki.

Graphite is defeated – not by Cronus, despite his attempts. By Snipe – no, Taiga – and by Brave – no, Hiiro – and by Nico.

Nico, the girl that he had taunted back when he was M, just before he suddenly _wasn't_ M anymore. She's good at this. She was so good at games, and when Gamedeus infects the city, she is so good at helping.

While Parad and Emu are fighting on the battlefield, she helps the civilians.

But then. Gamedeus is defeated, and Cronus absorbs him – and of course. He had infected himself 16 years ago. No wonder he could bend reality with a Bugvisor that he shouldn't have been able to use and one overpowered Gashat. Cronus has been at this just as long as Emu and Parad, but he _knew_ about it.

Cronus takes Nico. There is nothing that Parad can do to help the humans that he hated and has come to work with.

He's barely been with them any time at all.

Taiga goes to help. Hiiro goes to help. Emu goes to help.

Parad and Poppy can only watch.

They can only watch as the virus resurfaces and _takes over_ those that had just been helped.

What can they do?

How can they _help_?

He goes to help fight…

But she stops him.

"There's something only us Bugsters can do."

 **[set event flag 22]**

She. No. Why… she could have found some other way. Right? _Right_?

Bugsters are made of data and code and can disappear and reappear and live and die.

The kindest out of all of them, the last complete Bugster, the dancer and singer and idol and nurse and _friend to all_ dies in front of him.

Poppy Pipapopo sacrifices herself to save a city.

Parad and Emu can only watch.

 **[set event flag 23]**

She's gone, and the shock and despair that both of them feel is coming from both of them at once, with no start or end and keeps cycling back to and from each other.

But they can't stay up here, up on this roof where so many discussions have happened for so many people.

They have to go back and defeat The Monster that is Gamedeus and Cronus.

They have to defeat him the same way Poppy showed them.

For Emu it's the most basic of beginning tactics – one that he hasn't used in months because he didn't _need_ to, the Bugsters had stopped using that strategy to exist so long ago that it almost went forgotten.

" _You can't separate the Bugster from the patient unless you're at level 1."_

For Parad…

For Parad it's the newest of tactics – one that started with two men who died and then lived, and with a woman who lived and then died.

" _There's something only us Bugsters can do."_

Gamedeus and Cronus are separated.

A cloud of orange and cyan and sickly grey smoke lifts and turns into to a haze of of red and blue and sickly yellow light.

The yellow fades first, and leaves the red and blue to fade alone.

"I hope I've made up for what I've done,"

 _It's not so bad this time._

"Even a little..."

 _Dying, that is._

"It was only for a short time,"

 _This is worth it._

"But I had the time of my life gaming with you."

 _I'm sorry it couldn't have been longer. That I couldn't have been better._

"Emu..."

 _Goodbye._

 _(YOUR SMILE IS THE PROOF OF YOUR HEALTH_ _)_

 **[SET EVENT FLAG 24]**

Time passes. A young man is a doctor. He is 24, and is sure on his feet when it really matters, but still trips over himself when life is normal, and is so, so clever.

He dedicates his life to helping the sick and the lost, the people who are here and the people who aren't.

He walks into the office he works in, and hears a voice that he shouldn't be able to.

He runs up the spiral staircase – and who thought that was a good idea to have anyway – and sees a madman with an ego who has brought back a friend.

This can't be real – there's no way it could be – but it is and she is here and she is _alive_.

And the madman reveals what happened and.

Oh. Of course.

He is so, so clever, but he was furious then and distracted by loss and rage and ending the fight.

Disbelief and shock and surprise and _pure joy_ trigger a reaction.

A young man forms out of a cloud and two fall to the ground where one stood before.

Disbelief and shock and surprise and _pure joy_ feed back from one into the other and from the other into one and _who cares whose emotions are which because they are both here_.

Two young men who didn't know they weren't one before. Two young men who were always one even when they weren't.

Two player characters.

One story.

Your smile is the proof of your health.

 **[the game is forever]**

(ending notes: This only runs through the 45 episodes of the show - I've seen True Ending, Heisei Final, and Another Ending, and I love them, but I don't want to try and work with them for this. They pick up from a similar angle, in my opinion.

I had so much fun writing this you guys. I also miiight have destroyed my own emotions in the cycle of "watch the show, add relevant sections, watch the next episode, keep writing, rinse and repeat as needed."

Criticism is incredibly welcome, and can also be directed over at my tumblr (sailor-cresselia) if you want a slightly more timely reply.

(and before anyone asks, no, I did not set out to have the total number of flags be 24 - that's just a happy coincidence)

Crossposted to my AO3 account, SailorCresselia.)


End file.
